Gearing device for washing-machines and wringers.



W. J. SCHOONOVER.

cums DEVICE FOR WASHING MACHINES AND WRINGERS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 14, 19H. RENEWED MAY 7, I917- Patented Nov. 6, 1917.

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IIIIL WiZEzmw W. J. SCHOONOVER. GEAR'ING DEVICE FOR WASHING MACHINES AND W RlNGERS M d o M w.m wh o f. a g

MM & m m a. a a ww WILLIAM J. SCHOONOVEB, OF BELVIDERE, ILLINOIS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 6, 1917.

Application filed November 14, 1911, Serial No. 660,310. Renewed May 7, 1917. Serial No. 167,066.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLLAM J. Sorroon- OVER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Belvidere, county of Boone, and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Gearing Device for Washing-Machines and Wringers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of gearing devices adapted for use in connection with a washing machine of the type having an agitator on top designed to have an alternating rotary motion applied to it and a wringer secured to the washing machine body and capable of being operated either to run clothes away from the tub-or backwardly into the tub.

My object is to provide a gearing device of this kind of simple, durable and inexpensive construction in which the main power shaft is located beneath the tub Where it may be operated either by a motor below the tub or in any other suitable manner, and in which the means for operating the agitator shaft and the wringer shaft are positively driven by means of shafts and pinions so arranged that they will transmit the power without lost motion and will be strong and durable.

My invention consists in certain details, in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a side elevation of a washing machine and wringer provided with a gearing device embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 shows a similar view taken from a point at right angles to that at which Fig. 1 is taken.

Fig. 3 shows a top or plan view of same, and

Fig. 4 shows an inverted plan view of the washing machine and the gearingdevice applied thereto.

Referrin to the accompanying drawings, Ihave use the reference numeral 10 to indicate the washing machine body having a hinged cover 11 and being mounted on the supporting legs 12. Between the supporting legs are the cross braces13. Mounted in the hinged cover is the agitator shaft 14 having a pinion 15 thereon.

main power with the pinion 31.

Secured to the washing machine body is a wringer frame 16 of ordinary construction provided with wringer rolls 17, one roll being provided with a shaft 18 having a beveled pinion 19 thereon. All of the parts just described are of the ordinary construction and of themselves form no part of'my present invention. 1

My improved gearing device comprises a shaft 20 mounted beneath the Washing machine body in the brackets .21 and 22 which are provided with suitable bearings for said shaft. The bracket 21 is also provided with a vertical bearing 23 and an extension 24 having a bearing 25 for the end of the shaft 20, and said bracket 22 is also provided with an extension 26 having a. vertical bearing 27 for an upright shaft. Mounted beneath the washing machine body is an electric motor 28 having a pinion 29 in mesh with a large pinion 30 fixed to the shaft 20 so that the said shaft 20 may be continuously rotated in one direction by said motor. 1

imparting to, the pinion 15 an alternating rotary motion, I have mounted on one end of the shaft 20 a small pinion 31 and in the bearing 2? I have mounted an upright shaft 82. A large beveled pinion 33 is fixed to the shaft 32 and arranged in mesh At the upper end of the shaft 32 is a crank arm 34 and pivoted to this crank arm is a rack bar 35 in mesh with the pinion 1.5. The shaft 32 is arranged on the tub on the side thereof adjacent to the To provide for hinges of the hinged top so that the rack bar 35 may be moved toposition beyond the hinges before the cover is raised.

For the purpose-of providing for throwing the shaft 32 into and out of gear with the shaft 20, I have mounted on the shaft 20 a sleeve 36 slidingly and non-rotatably mounted and having an annular groove 3 at one end and a clutch member 38 at the other end. This clutch member 38 is designed to coac't with a second clutch member 39 which is mounted in a bearin in the bracket 22 and which has the inion 31 fixed to it. A rod 40 is mounted in the annular groove 37 and is also supported in a bearing 41 secured to the under surface of the tub. This rod, as may be seen in Fig. 4, has one end connected to a crank arm 42 fixed to an upright shaft 43, which upright shaft 43 is provided with a handle 44: at its upper end and said handle is arranged to is obvious that a manipulation ofthe handle 44 will serve to hold the clutch member 36 into or out of engagement with the clutch member39.

In order to providefor throwing the wringer mechanism either in position where it is out of gear or in position where it may run the wringer in either direction, I have provided the following mechanism: Rotatably mounted upon the shaft 22 are two sleeves 46 and 47, each being provided with a beveled pinion'48 and a clutch member 49. Splined on the shaft 20 between these two clutch members is a second sliding sleeve 50 provided at its end with clutch members to coact with the clutch members 49 and provided at its central portion with an annular groove 51. Arranged in said groove is a rod 52 having its lower end supported in an extension 53 of the bracket 21 and having its upper end supported in the plate 45. A handle 54 is-provided on said upper end by which the rod may be adjusted to move the sliding sleeve 50.

Rotatably supported in the bearings 23 of the bracket 21 is an upright shaft 55 having its upper end supported in a bracket 56 on the wrin'ger frame and provided with a beveled pinion 57 in mesh with the pinion 19.

On the lower end of the shaft 55 is a large beveled pinion 58 in mesh with both of the p'inions 48.

In practical operation and assumingthat the parts are in their positions, as shown in Fig. 1, then when the shaft 20 rotates the shaft 55 will be-idle and the shaft 32 will be rotated through the pinions 31 and 33. This will operatethe agitator by imparting an alternating rotary motion to it. Either during the operation of the shaft 32 or when the shaft 32 is idle, the operator may, by a manipulation of the handle 54, throw the sleeve 50 into position to engage either one of the sleeves 46 or 47. When in engagement with the sleeve 46 the wringer will be rotated in one direction and when in engagement with the sleeve 47 the wringer shaft will be rotated in a reverse direction.

One of the chief advantages of my invention is that'the device is not only of ex tremely simple construction but that it is also durable. No belts are employed for transmitting, power from the main power shaft either to the agitator or to the wringer. Two brackets on the bottom of the machine support the horizontal power shaft as well as both of the vertical shafts for operatin the wringer and the agitator. The clutc ing the second means? and are connected direct to two levers that are arranged on the wringer frame where they are readily accessible by the operator.

There is no complicated or cumbersome mechanism near the top of the tub, nor near the wringer that is likely to become caught or entangled in the clothes. vI am aware that heretofore gearing devices have been provided by which the same ultimate result was attained in so far as imparting motion to the agitator shaft and to the wringer is concerned but I am not aware that any similar arrangement of gearing devices has ever been provided for accomplishing these results, nor has any gearing device been provided heretofore of such simple, durable and positively acting mechanism as that herein shown and described.

" 'hile I have herein shown'and described a novel washing-machine gearing as a part of my complete invention, I do not herein claim the same, as it is described and claimed in my divisional application No.

of the following claims except as may be necessitated by the state of the prior art.

I claim as my invention:

elevated position, a prime moversup orted 1. In a device of the class described, a body, legs thereon for holding said body in shaft mounted below said body adjacent to said prime mover, gearing devices interposed between said prime mover and said shaft, a bracket supported on. said body having the form of an inverted U, with ahned horizontal bearings at its lower ends' receiving said shaft, and having at its upper end a central vertical bearing, a horizontal shaft above said body, a vertical shaft mounted in said vertical bearing, means for operatively connecting said vertlcal shaft and said second horizontal shaft, a gear on the lower end of said vertical shaft, gears loosely mounted on said first horizontal shaft in mesh with opposite sides of said last gear, a double ended sliding clutch member arranged between the gears on said first horizontal shaft, a vertical bear- 'ing formed in said bracket adjacent to said first vertical bearing, a rod mounted therein operatively connected with said clutch for sliding the same, a support for said second i horizontal shaft, and a segment thereon said rod being rotatably mounted in sai ysegment and having a right-angled extenthe supsion for coacting with thesegment, port being arrangedfor properly sup ortorizontal shaft an the vertical shaft with relation to each other, and for properlypositioning said rod for controlling the clutch;

2. In a device of the class described, the combination with a tub, of a transverse driving shaft suitably journaled below the tub, means for rotating said shaft, a wringer mounted above the tub, a wringer shaft therein, a vertical driven shaft outside'the tub in the plane of the driving shaft and the wringer shaft, and gearing connecting the three shafts, substantially as described.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination with a tub, of a transverse driving shaft suitably journaled below the tub, means for rotating said shaft, a wringer mounted above the tub, a wringer shaft therein, a vertical driven shaft outside the tub in the plane of the driving shaft and the wringer shaft, gearing connecting the wringer shaft and the vertical driven shaft, reversible gearing connecting the driving shaft and the driven shaft, and means for stopping or reversing said reversible gearing connections.

4. In a device of the class described, the combination with a tub, of a transverse driving shaft suitably journaled below the tub, means for rotating said shaft, a wringer mounted above the tub, a wringer shaft therein, a vertical driven shaft outside the tub in the plane of the driving shaft and the wringer shaft, gearing between the wringer shaft and the vertical driven shaft, a bevel gear on the bottom of the driven shaft, opposed bevel gears loosely journaled on the driving shaft and meshing with the bevel gears on the driven shaft, a clutch sleeve adapted to be connected with either of said opposed bevel gears splined on the driving shaft between said opposed bevel gears, and means for shifting the sleeve operable from the top of the tu V '5. In a device of theclass described the combination with a tub, of a transverse driving shaft suitably journaled below the tub, means for rotating said shaft, a wringer mounted above the tub, a wringerfshaft therein, a vertical driven shaft outside the tub, and gearing connecting the three shafts, for the purpose described.

6. In a device of the class described, the

combination with a tub, of a transverse driving shaft suitably journaled below the tub, means for rotating said shaft, a wringer mounted above the tub, a wringer shaft therein, a vertical driven shaft outside the tub, gearing connecting the wringer shaft and the vertical shaft, reversible gearing connectin the driving shaft and the vertical shaft, an means for stopping or reversing said reversible gearing connectlons.

7. In a device of the class described, the combination with a tub, of a transverse driving shaft suitably journaled below the tub, meansfor rotatlng said shaft, a wringer mounted above the tub, a wringer shaft therein, a vertical driven shaft outside the tub, gearing connecting the vertical shaft and the wringer shaft, a bevel gear on the bottom of the driven shaft, opposed bevel gears loosely journaled on the driving shaft and meshing with the bevel gear on the bottom of the vertical shaft, a clutch sleeve adapted to be connected with either of said opposed bevel gears splined on the drivin shaft between said opposed bevel gears, an means for shifting the sleeve operable from the top of the tub.

8. In a device of the class described the combination with a tub, of a transverse riving shaft suitably journaled below the tub, means for rotating said shaft, a wringer mounted above the tub, a wringer-shaft therein, a vertical driven shaft outside of the tub in the plane of the driving shaft, and gearing between said vertical shaft and the two horizontal shafts, said gearing including reversing gearing to start, stop and reverse the wringer-shaft from the constantly rotating driving shaft.

9. In a device of the class described, the combination with a tub, of a transverse driving shaft suitably journaled below the tub, a motor beneath the tub, gearing connecting the armature shaft of the motor and the driving shaft, a wringer mounted above the tub, a wringer-shaft therein, a vertical driven shaft outside of the tub in the plane of the driving shaft, and gearing between said vertical shaft and the two horizontal shafts, said gearing including reversing gearing to start, stop and reverse the wringer shaft from the constantly rotating drivin shaft.

Des oines, Iowa, Nov. 1, 1911.

WILLIAM J. SCHOONOVER. Witnesses:

M. WALLACE, B. DEAL. 

